Henry Farrell

Henry Farrell is associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. He has previously been a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, assistant professor at George Washington University and the University of Toronto, and a senior research fellow at the Max-Planck Project Group in Bonn, Germany. He works on a variety of topics, including trust, the politics of the Internet and international and comparative political economy. His book, The Political Economy of Trust: Interests, Institutions and Inter-Firm Cooperation, was published in 2008 by Cambridge University Press. In addition he has authored or co-authored 25 academic articles for journals including International Organization, World Politics, Comparative Political Studies and the Annual Review of Political Science, as well as numerous book chapters for edited volumes. Professor Farrell is an associate editor of Perspectives on Politics and Research and Politics, a Foreign Correspondent for Stato e Mercato and a member of the executive committee of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics. He is a co-founder of the popular academic blog Crooked Timber, and also blogs at The Monkey Cage, winner of the 2010 The Week award for Best Blog. He has written articles for general publications including Foreign Affairs, The Financial Times, Foreign Policy, The American Prospect, The Washington Monthly, The Boston Review, The American Interest, Democracy, New Scientist, The Nation, Aeon, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Times Higher Education, and the Australian Academic Supplement among others.

After the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the national argument about gun control seems to have taken a new turn. The National Rifle Association and its political allies seem to be on the defensive. Pro-gun politicians such as Florida Gov.

The Mueller investigation has just indicted 13 Russian nationals, and three Russian organizations, including the notorious St. Petersburg troll factory, the Internet Research Agency, for their roles in the 2016 U.S. election. This indictment has come as a complete surprise. It provides a wealth of new information about how Russian trolling operations work and what they tried to accomplish. This information contradicts many popular beliefs about Russian social media operations.

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Bruce Schneier’s new book, “Click Here to Kill Everybody,” explains the security risks of a new world of household devices connected to the Internet. I asked him what the risks are, why they are so serious and what their consequences are for politics.

HF: Technology has created a hyper-connected world. How does this lead to vulnerabilities?

Over the past two days, U.S. observers of Facebook have been focusing on Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony to Congress, and the question of whether U.S. politicians might introduce new regulations of Facebook’s privacy and data sharing practices. They have been missing the real story.

"“When you see something, or when you believe that you’re seeing something and hearing something, it has a much more visceral impact on you, by and large, than when it’s something that you’re just reading about,” says Henry Farrell, a professor of political science at George Washington University in Washington.

“So I suspect that as we begin to see people really begin to use these techniques, we’re going to see content being circulated which really punches you in the solar plexus in a way that wasn’t true of other forms of fake news,” he says."

""[They have] this idea that privacy is something that's quite central, that it could be thought of in terms of if property rights," said Indiana University associate professor Scott Shackelford, who teaches cybersecurity law. "Having privacy be the starting point and carving out free speech."

The U.S. does the reverse, Shackelford said. Free speech is paramount, and privacy protections are carved out as exceptions.

The age of global transparency is upon us. Whether you’re using mobile wiretaps, drones, or satellites, surveillance has become cheap and ubiquitous. And governments aren’t the only ones doing it. These days, almost anyone can peek into the lives of the world’s rich and powerful—and expose sensitive information, using new-fangled technologies or old-fashioned methods like leaks to the press.

In this episode of Foreign Affairs Unedited, we’re taking a closer look at what the end of secrecy really means for governments, politicians, and everyday people.

George Washington University Professor, Henry Farrell, explains the role of Tor browser by human rights activists, civil libertarians and criminal organizations. Criminal subcultures and trust. Why Libertarian utopias fail in real life and real markets. The story of Silk Road’s ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ (Ross Ulbricht) and how is his Libertarian politics, drug dealing and attempted murder brought down Silk Road. drug empire and the collapse of Silk Road’s Libertarian fantasy. How do you find a trust worthy source for stolen credit cards?